3YURIKO FUCKING DIES…
Draudillon Oriculus, head of the Oriculo group, dumped her bag onto the ground and slipped off her heels with a sigh.
'Great-grandfather's coming to visit next week as well,' the wrinkly bastard said it was to 'check on the state of the company,' but it was clear that he just wanted another chance to disapprove of her spouse to her face. 'Need to remember to book some visits to the tech demonstrations; hopefully it'll be enough to keep him distracted.'
Maybe she could invite that representative from Argland and get him to draw away the bulk of Great-grandfather's ire—
"Drau!" Yuriko Oriculus, née Hanami, skidded across the floor of the penthouse apartment and dove into her arms. "Welcome back!"
"I'm home," Draudillon relaxed into her wife's arms and buried her face into their shoulder. "How was your day?"
"I'm editing a vid right now!" Yuriko puffed out her chest with a smug expression that quickly deflated. "Oh um, I still haven't gotten around to cleaning up the kitchen…"
"I'll help," she pulled away and gave a quick, reassuring smile. "What were you recording today?"
"I was making chicken tonkatsu, a-and I can clean it by myself!" They released the hug and pushed Draudillon towards the bathroom. "You go and take a bath; it's been a long day, right?"
"It's really no trouble—"
"Goooo~" Yuriko closed the bathroom door behind her. The black-haired woman huffed, though not angrily so, and proceeded to undress—placing the business attire onto a nearby shelf.
"You could rely on me more, you know?" Draudillon mumbled to herself as she dropped the lavender bath bomb into the borderline scalding water. "Honestly, taking the time to do this while you're busy…"
Yuriko paid for their own individual living expenses: personal snacks, equipment, clothes, presents—in fact the only things they didn't pay for was food and rent: the latter of which was because Draudillon owned the whole building anyway.
That being said, it wasn't like her wife rejected everything. They just made it a habit to deal with mundane expenses on their own.
Bath bomb dispersed, she dipped her toes into the water and gradually submersed herself with a long exhalation of relief.
'Meeting at ten tomorrow,' she closed her eyes and blew bubbles in the scented bath. 'And Yuriko planned a stay-at-home date at six.'
She would have to leave a little earlier than usual, but that was more than perfectly fine. Between work and Yuriko, the decision was obvious.
"Would be nice if I could pass it to Uncle…" The old man had repeatedly turned down her offer, but said he was training his son, her cousin, for the role. Frankly, it didn't make any sense to her although she supposed the role was a tad much for someone already in his sixties.
Retirement sounded nicer and nicer the more she thought about it. Donate the vast majority of her wealth and go live out the rest of her life with Yuriko in some rural countryside.
'Well, that's neither now or later,' she dragged herself out, dried off the water, and donned a bathrobe as she wrapped her hair up in a towel.
"Yay, right on time!" Yuriko brightened upon seeing her, a pink apron worn over their cream-colored turtleneck sweater and black yoga pants. "Dra-Drau! W-Wait, my apron's all powdery—"
"It's fine," she said after pulling her lips away from Yuriko's, feeling her wife's racing pulse even through the layers of clothing that separated them. "Let's go eat; dinner smells good."
"O-Okay…" Yuriko blushed, half-lidded eyes trailing after her form. "Thanks."
They sat down across from each other and began eating, catching up in between bites of chicken, rice, and coleslaw.
"How's that collaboration with that voice actress going?" Draudillon curiously asked. She recalled her wife mentioning them as someone she met through a game or whatnot.
"She'll be busy recording for an Ero-game," despite the bad news, Yuriko looked supremely unbothered. "Can't be helped!"
" 'Ero-game?' " The very name itself was suspect. "Is it one of those…?"
"Mhm," they chewed on another piece of chicken and swallowed it. "I don't really know a lot about it, but she's a big shot apparently."
"I see. Then what are you planning on doing next?"
"Probably the same thing as always," Yuriko shrugged before suddenly straightening their back. "Oh! Speaking of which, she did turn down the collab, but they gave me two copies of Minecraft!"
"A video game?" Draudillon's voice expressed a hint of doubt. "Yuriko, you know I'm not much for games—"
"Please?" Her wife's eyes widened and their mouth scrunched in a cute pout as they attempted to appeal to her less rational senses. It wasn't going to work. "We can play together! Pleeease?"
It worked.
"Alright, alright," she finished the rest of her food. "After we're done eating, okay?"
"Yesssss!" Yuriko began shoveling the food into their mouth with renewed vigor. The sight brought a small smile to her face; if it made them this happy, then she would diligently overcome her reluctance for gaming.
'Maybe it's fine every now and then,' she convinced herself as her wife dumped their plate and utensils into the sink. "Drau, Imma go set up the computers!"
Draudillon finished her own food while Yuriko did whatever on both their desktops. She didn't need one, but her partner had insisted and she guessed it was better than a laptop? Emails, spreadsheets, and calendars ran just as well on either anyhow.
"This game looks… interesting," she decided to leave washing the dishes for later before heading into their shared office space and peered over Yuriko's shoulder. The launcher screen displayed a strangely cubic piece of art. Weren't games all about realistic graphics nowadays? "What are you supposed to do in it?"
"Okay, so you like mine these blocks for resources, right? And you use those to build and craft um, a ton of stuff!" Draudillon nodded along; at least the name was straightforward. "There's also monsters and things you can kill, plants you can plant, and… yup!"
"I see," the explanation felt a little lacking. Was that everything? Well, she supposed not every game required a story element. There existed apps like Candy Crush, Cut the Rope, and others of their kind. "Sounds fun. Do I just…?"
"Oh! You want any help setting up your account?" Yuriko kicked their feet back and forth while humming along to the title tune. They really had been looking forward to this the whole day, huh?
"I'm not tech illiterate, dear," she rolled her eyes as she inputted the code on the gift card into the website. "Player name is separate from username?"
"Picking whatever's fine since you can go back and change it," Yuriko gave a thumbs up as they leaned over to watch her screen, blonde hair ticking the exposed skin of Draudillon's neck. " 'Doriculus?' "
"Is, is there something wrong with that?" A hint of defensiveness crept into the business woman's voice. Was she supposed to come up with something 'quirkier?'
"Hm? No, I just thought it was super cute," they rubbed their face against her cheek. "It makes me think, 'this is definitely Drau!' "
"You…" She exhaled out the nose. "Let's just play."
"Right, so, you wanna open the launcher," she clicked on the green-brown cube icon. "Then you have to sign in and download the game before we can start."
"I have to download it again?"
"That was just the launcher installation," Yuriko explained. "The actual game file is separate."
"Is it always this convoluted?" Draudillon grumbled and watched the green progress bar gradually fill.
"Sometimes, but that's because you can download a buncha jar files for different versions of the game and then there's the whole modding crud I won't get into—wha?"
"You've done your research," she patted their head. "Were you that excited to try it out?"
"Y-Yeah! Always thought about playing, but never really worked up the motivation…"
"So getting gifted copies was enough incentive," the title screen finally appeared. " 'Ahhhhhh?' What's that supposed to mean?"
"I dunno," Yuriko took her mouse and clicked 'Multiplayer' before returning to their own desktop. "One sec, I'll create a LAN world and then we can…"
Draudillon glanced at the time.
'Looks like this is going to be a late night.'
"How did you make that?"
"This crafting bench?" A brown pickaxe suddenly appeared in Yuriko's hand.
"Anything."
The 'mine' aspect of the game was simple, but 'crafting…' There was an in-built guide; although, navigating that made her head spin. Maybe it was because of how late it was. Maybe she needed coffee.
"Okay," Yuriko got up and stood over her shoulder, the warmth of their breath tickling Draudillon's neck. "So you get some wooden planks and put them in this rectangle shape…"
"I'll vacuum the floor—"
"No no no," Yuriko gently but firmly pushed her onto a sofa. "You've been working all day. Let me do this."
"It's my family that's causing you trouble," she pushed herself off the cushion and argued back. "Give it to me."
"Really, it's not a big deal—hey!" They protested as Draudillon snatched the vacuum out of their hands. "Seriously!"
"If it's work you want, there's still plenty left," she stuck her tongue out in a rare moment of childish playfulness. "Leave the bathrooms to me though."
"Draudillon…"
"We're partners," she sternly admonished them. "So let me do my part."
"I wasn't trying to say we weren't," Yuriko mumbled.
"I know. Just let me help out, alright?" She switched on the appliance, filling the penthouse with the deafening roar that accompanied housework.
"You don't have to feel guilty," Yuriko's muttered words went unheard by Draudillon. The blonde shook their head in exasperation and went to the kitchen to do prep-work for tomorrow's visit from their Great-grandfather-in-law.
Despite the minor argument, there was a pep in their steps and smiles on their faces.
It felt nice working together.
"Don't mind that bastard too much," Draudillon scowled at the memory of Great-grandfather's visit while she helped Yuriko clear the table. "That man really just says whatever he wants without thinking about others…"
"Drau, I'm fine," her wife gave a bland smile. It was good, but not good enough to fool her. "He actually ate the food today—"
She hugged Yuriko from behind. The tension bled out of their body as they leaned back into her hold. "Next time I'll make sure we're conveniently out of town."
"Pffft," Yuriko giggled. Draudillon felt her spirits soar; they'd been gloomy for the entirety of Great-grandfather's visit. "Wouldn't he just fly to where we were then?"
"I'll find a secret space," she nuzzled their neck. "Somewhere he wouldn't ever think of looking. We'll go on walks in the forest, take swims in the lake, and soak in the moonlight."
"That sounds nice," Yuriko murmured as they twisted around to face her. "Drau, are you busy tonight?"
A kiss was all the answer they needed.
"Do we really need all this stuff, dear?" Draudillon stared at the potions, obsidian, spare tools, and armor filling her inventory. "The Nether doesn't seem that dangerous."
"Carelessness is the enemy!" Yuriko pompously declared. "You'll be thanking me when something goes off the rails."
'For some reason, I feel like she would be the one to mess up…' Well, better over prepared than under. "What are we hunting for here?"
"Wither skull heads, blaze rods, netherite, some building blocks…" Her wife rattled off a lengthy list. "… and ghast tears."
Why don't we make a farm for those instead of—"
"Farms are boring!" Yuriko pouted. "Getting it the normal way is more fun!"
Draudillon shrugged. The 'normal' way sounded tedious to her, but she supposed farms required an abundance of materials anyway.
"Let's get to it then."
"Bow?"
"Check."
"Enchantments on it?"
"Power five, Flame, and Mending."
"Not using the Infinity bow?"
"Arrows are cheap, right? I'd rather replace those than spend experience on repairing the weapon."
"Fair. How about armor, Drau?"
"Same as yours."
"Cool, cool… y'know, full netherite took sooo long to mine—"
"Focus."
"Mm, you're really getting into this, Drau~"
"Q-Quiet. And wipe that smug grin off your face."
" 'Kaaay—w-wait, Drau!"
"As you were saying, dear?"
"Haa… haa… m-meanie…"
"I agree. Now, I do believe we have a dragon to kill."
"We did it!" The wife pair high-fived each other while the virtual dragon crumbled in a spectacular light show.
"With all the preparations we made, we better have," Draudillon huffed, smiling in spite of herself. "Jump in this portal?"
"Yeeeap," Yuriko popped her lips and the two leapt into the starry boundary to be greeted by a strange dialogue sequence.
"So what now?" With the Ender Dragon defeated, that meant the conclusion of the main 'story' of the game if the credits were anything to go by.
"Build more stuff, I guess," Yuriko perked up. "Ooh! We should go get some shulker boxes—projects are gonna be so much easier."
"Sounds good," she still didn't really get it, but as long as they were having fun…
"I'll go fly around and find one!"
Then she was happy too.
"Wait, find what?"
"And… screenshot," after a few months of on and off playing, she and her wife completed the first section of their mega End base. "Now for the northeastern segment."
She didn't get too far before running into a small issue.
"Where did we leave our shulker chests?" She placed the last block of colored clay, emptying her inventory of building materials.
"Ooooh…" Yuriko winced. "I left it on that End City where we were building the chorus fruit farm. I'll ender pearl there real quick!"
They took aim at the floating chunk of endstone. "Be back, easy peasy."
"Wait, can't you just fly there—" But it was too late, for her foolish wife had already tossed the pearl… and hit a block protruding from the side.
She had fallen down into the void. With all their enchanted netherite equipment.
"Yuriko…" Draudillon stared unimpressively at the shocked woman. "You fucking died."
A/N: … in minecraft.